HEY WANAKA! PLEASE, PLEASE, WE NEED YOUR HELP!
GIVE US YOUR OPINION ON A SUBMISSION WE ARE MAKING TO QLDC
We are the Deaton Family, long-time Wanaka residents and owners of the new local business LandEscape Wanaka (e-bikes, hot tubs, cycle trails, cafe, camper van sites, renewable energy demonstration, regenerative agriculture) located on our stunningly scenic 115-hectare farm off Camp Hill Road.
We have been grinding our way through the Resource Consent and Zone Change process with QLDC for three years and over two million self-funded dollars and we have had a gut-full of them. We have tried throughout to engage and seek co-operation … it can’t be done.
This time, instead of asking QLDC, we are asking you, our community, for your adjudication and we will go with your opinion. If the weight of public opinion is not in favour of this specific proposal we will withdraw the submission. If most of you think the concept has merit and find yourselves generally in support given the realities this region faces, we will proceed.
THE PROPOSAL IN BRIEF
We are applying for a Lakefront Reserve Commercial Licence. We need this Lakefront Reserve Licence for a very specific reason: To enable “The LandEscape Wanaka Active Sightseeing and Transport Strategy” using our fleet of 80 (yes, eight - zero) Swiss made, YouMo (Your Mobility) e-bikes.
We are all aware that there is an electric vehicle revolution going on right now across the globe. E-bikes are the short to medium distance component of that EV revolution.
Our concept is to get a large proportion of the visitor segment of our population (those, as we are now all so painfully aware, on whom our local economy relies utterly) out of their ICE cars and motorhomes and out of the Central Wanaka and Lakefront parking tangle by giving them an easily available, fully functional and highly desirable alternative in a region devoid of public transport... e-Bikes and lots of them!
The Sightseeing part of this happens on our magnificent local and regional cycle trail system and means long distances will be ridden. Sixty to a hundred kms/day is totally possible for most people on an e-bike if, and only if, the visitor can swap batteries throughout the day at multiple strategic locations.
We intend to have at least three battery swap locations: LandEscape Farm; an unattended trailer at the Albert Town Bridge; the Lakefront Reserve Licence area. Our bikes are suited to everyday cyclists and have integrated headlights and taillights so, at the end of a day sightseeing, the guests can return to their accommodation, shower and change and then ride to town to dine. There they park a bicycle instead of a car or motorhome and then return that bicycle late in the evening - long past normal business hours - to the lakefront licence area to be shuttled back to their accommodation ... Active Sightseeing & Transport!
PLEASE FEEL FREE TO CALL TO DISCUSS OR EMAIL US YOUR THOUGHTS.
Rik Deaton: 021 280 1018 /
Thanks—the LandEscape team